Not Applicable.
This invention relates to a tool for preparing bone graft material by loading it into multiple tubes that may then be injected into a site needing bone graft material.
Bone graft material is typically harvested from a portion of a patient""s body, such as a hip, and are used in repair procedures in another site, such as in fusing adjacent vertebra. Cheung et al, in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Volume 35, pages 267-270 (1997) describe a bone graft condensing syringe system which uses a metal syringe, a plugger and a screw on cap along with a metal filling funnel to provide bone graft. Marx and Wong describe the use of a plastic syringe in J. Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, Volume 45, at pages 988-989 (1987) which compacts the bone graft material. A scalpel is required to cut off the needle end of the syringe to extrude out the graft material. Lambert et al., in Journal of Oral Maxillofacial Surg., pages 773-774 (1994) describe a syringe system employing a vented steel disc at the hub end of the syringe. The syringe is filled with bone, compressed with a plunger and extruded out with a steel rod through the hub which pushes out the disc and bone.
A series of Bonutti patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,329,846; 5,545,222; 5,662,710 and 5,888,219 deal with a bone preparation system that uses a press to remove fluid from human tissue and insert the human tissue back into the person. The tissue may be bone.
The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is xe2x80x9cprior artxe2x80x9d with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. xc2xa71.56(a) exists.
The invention provides a tool into which bone graft material is inserted. A ram in the tool fills tubes with the bone graft material. The filled tubes are then used to deploy bone graft material where needed with a second tool pressing the graft material out of the tubes. The tool and fill tubes provide the surgeon with prefilled tubes of known volume for surgical procedures which may be readily extruded into the surgical site.